North and South groceries

Luo Yong met Peng Er on the streets of Lishi County in the winter of the eighth year of Zhenguan, and bought her together with Wang Dang's son Wang Shao from the human trafficker Chen Qi.

She was 13 years old that year, and she was cautious when she first arrived at the Luo family, always reminding herself to be cautious in her words and deeds, lest she say or do something wrong and be rejected by the master.

It's just that as the days passed day by day, she unknowingly relaxed a little bit, because Luo Yong always gave her a feeling that as long as she didn't do those too bad things, he didn't care about the rest of the ordinary things. Don't care, even if you do something wrong and cause trouble with him, he will definitely stand in the way.

The brothers and sisters of the Luo family are all good, but without Luo Yong, they might not be what they are today.

The year Peng Er met Luo Yong for the first time, Luo Yong was only 15 years old, and he looked like a fair and clean young man. They opened up a spiritual space, so high that they no longer always entangled in the trivial gains and losses in front of them, and learned to set their sights on those higher and farther places...

Today, she is no longer afraid of wind and rain. How could the trembling girl ten years ago imagine that she could grow into what she is today.

This time, Peng Er received a letter from Luo Erniang, and quickly arranged the work at hand, and in a few days, he and the managers of the cashmere workshop in Liangzhou City, as well as the two under her own hands. Personally, I came all the way to Changle County.

They traveled to Jinchang City yesterday and knew that they could take a wooden carriage from Jinchang to Changle County. The speed was very fast and they didn't have to suffer from the bumps. After Chang rested for the night, he still came here on horseback early this morning. He set off in the morning and arrived at noon.

The walls of Changle County are tall and neat, with cement plastered on the walls, apparently just built in the past two years.

From the outside of the city, the size of the city is nearly ten times smaller than that of Liangzhou City, and there are not many farmer manors around the city. There are large areas of barren desert and Gobi, and only a few places can grow crops.

After entering the city, it was quite lively. Peng Er smiled and told the people behind not to lose track of him.There are many vendors on the street, and there are also farmers who brought firewood and vegetables to the city to sell, and some Hu merchants are walking around in the city.

These scenes are also common in Liangzhou, but there are more Han people there. Although many people here wear Han clothes, they don’t look very Han people. Some may be herdsmen, and some may be miscellaneous. Hu, there are many Kunlun people with dark skin.

These people in the city were also a little curious about the arrival of Peng Er and his party. Many people who were sitting on the street grinding needles stopped their movements at this moment.

There were six or seven people in the group, all of them were women. Although they were all unfamiliar faces, they were supposed to be from the cashmere workshop.

"I heard earlier that a new steward is coming to the weaving workshop, but these people?"

"About that."

"Which one do you see?"

"These should all be in charge."

"..."

"Look at that little lady, she's about twenty years old."

"Is she a manager too?"

"I don't know, she looks really good."

"..." These people on the street looked at Peng Er and the others, muttering and discussing in low voices.

"Excuse me, where should Luo Erniang's cashmere workshop go?" Peng Er asked a woman on the street at this time.

"Oh, the cashmere workshop, just turn at the intersection ahead, and you'll be there in a few more steps." The woman was very enthusiastic, she stretched out her hand and gestured in the direction of the cashmere workshop, showing Peng Er and the others the way.

"There is a workshop area over there, there are many workshops."

"Look at the workshop with the highest wall, which is the cashmere workshop."

"Other workshops are open, and men and women come in and out, but the cashmere workshop has no idlers waiting in and out, so it's easy to recognize."

"Just go through this small road, just ahead..."

"..." These people on the street were very enthusiastic, and they all chattered to show Peng Er and his party the way.

Peng Er and the others walked a few steps in the direction they pointed, and saw Erniang and the others happily coming out.

It turned out that as early as when the group of them first entered the city, there was a child with good deeds who went to the cashmere workshop to report.

"Luo Erniang! Luo Erniang! A few ladies came into the city with their horses just now, are they from yours?"

The steward inside the door heard the movement, opened the door to ask what happened, and soon someone went to call Luo Erniang, so they went out first without waiting for Peng Er and others to find her.

Luo Erniang hadn't seen Peng Er for several years, she was very happy to meet again at this time, Peng Er was like a sister to her.

"But I'm tired, give me the burden, I'll get it."

"I'm not very tired. I have a horse to ride, and I didn't walk here on two legs."

"It's still bumpy. In the future, there will be wooden tracks on Longyou Road, so it will be easier to travel."

"You can see the wooden track."

"I see, but I didn't sit down."

"What are you afraid of? It's just outside the county seat. Whenever you want to sit down, you can go to Jinchang for three pennies. It's very convenient."

"Are you hungry?"

"It's already past meal time, why don't I go to the street and order some food over here."

"Go ahead, order more good dishes, don't begrudge the money."

"Hey."

"..."

It was the season of high and crisp autumn, the sun was shining brightly, and the weather was not too hot. Peng Er and his party followed Luo Erniang and the others into the cashmere workshop.

Some people happily ran to the street to buy food, while others hurried to boil hot water with them, busy as if they were celebrating a festival.

Luo Yong also heard about this incident at the Changle County Yamen at this time. He didn't go to the cashmere workshop very much on weekdays, mainly to avoid suspicion, but on days like today, it doesn't hurt to go there. There is no need to put on the airs of an official, just wait for Peng Er and the others to come and visit him.

When Luo Yong went to the cashmere workshop, Peng Er and the others had already washed and washed, and their hair was still damp. At this time, they were dressed in crisp clothes, and they were sitting in the front hall talking with Erniang and the others. It was rarely opened, and from time to time someone from a street food shop brought over a basket of food.

Luo Yong greeted them, and found a place to sit down. When he went back to Chang'an City, he passed through Liangzhou City back and forth, and he had seen Peng Er before, and the friendship between him and Peng Er was original. Not as deep as Er Niang.

But in this era of extremely inconvenient transportation, it is always a very happy thing to have friends coming from afar.

This afternoon they sat in this hall to drink and talk. During the meeting, they talked a lot about the customs of Liangzhou City and Changle County, and also talked about their time in Xipo Village.

"How is your elder sister?" Luo Yong asked Yin Lan, who was the youngest at the table.

"She's fine." Yin Lan grinned and replied with a smile.

In the past, Aunt Yin and Sister Yin Lan followed Luo Erniang and the others from Xipo Village to Liangzhou City, and they had been working in the cashmere workshop in Liangzhou City. few.

This time Yin Lan came to Changle County with Peng Er, and Aunt Yin continued to stay in Liangzhou City. Aunt Yin was a few years older than Yin Lan, she was more popular, and she did things more safely. In the past few years, those who have been promoted and raised their salaries are faster than Yin Lan.

Although the girl Yin Lan is good at work, she is too stubborn and somewhat withdrawn, and she doesn't get along very well with the ladies in the workshop. Aunt Yin often wants to talk about her, and she can't hear her. Calloused.

When Luo Yong heard her talking about these things, he also thought it was a bit funny. It is indeed difficult for a person with a withdrawn and stubborn personality to mix in the workplace. Forget about the management staff and so on, let's look at the development of blue-collar technicians.

However, if compared with the past, Yin Lan is now much more cheerful.Her family Yeniang, like Luo Yong's parents, both suffered from a landslide in the seventh year of Zhenguan, and she and her younger sister Yin Duo'er also had a hard time.

"How are Yin Duo'er and the others doing now, but they found their husband's family?" Luo Yong remembered that Yin Lan had a younger sister who was two or three years younger than her. When she was young, she took this younger sister as her own responsibility.

"I've learned how to weave cashmere sweaters before I get married, so I can get work in the village, so I don't have to worry about anything." Yin Lan replied, "It's just that I always shouted to come to Liangzhou City to find me. Now it's all right. Le County is so far away, she doesn't have to think about it."

"If she really wants to come, when this batch of white folded cloth is sold this year, the cloth sales team will come back from Chang'an and pass through Xipo Village to get a batch of Eucommia gum, then ask her to come with the glue transport team , it’s just that the journey is far away, so it’s still a bit dangerous.”

Luo Yong also understands Yin Lan's desire to bring Yin Duo'er by his side. This time, Yin Lan will run a white-folding cloth workshop with Peng Er in Changle County. They will not change places in three to five years. Jia Yeniang is gone, and there is only this younger sister left. Although there are Uncle Weng Po and Uncle above, they are still separated by a layer.

"I've been writing to her for the past two days. She's grown up now. As long as someone can take her with her along the way, she won't be afraid of anything." Yin Lan said immediately.

"Okay." Luo nodded with a smile.

"I'll ask someone to bring some trouble to her at that time." Yin Lan said again after thinking about it.

"No need." Luo Yong said: "How much money was spent on the road at that time, and you can make up for them after staying here. The journey is so long, and every extra burden is an extra burden."

"...That's good." Yin Lan thought for a while, then nodded and agreed.

In the afternoon, Qiao Junlin came back from school at Changle Academy. He heard that Luo Yong was working at the cashmere workshop, so he looked for him.

Luo Yong saw that it was getting late, and it was not good for a man to stay in the cashmere workshop for too long, so he got up and went back to the county office with Qiao Junlin.

Early the next morning, Erniang and Peng Er came to the county government again and discussed with Luo Yong. They wanted to borrow a carpenter from Luo Yong's disciple, and they planned to make some changes to the loom.

Last year, when those white flowers were taken back, there was no time to make any other preparations, and they were all woven into white cloth and sold, because there was no competition, and they were easily sold at a good price.

This year's situation is a bit different. There are more people planting jasmine flowers, and there are more weaving workshops. If they don't spend some time studying this time, it may be difficult to keep their advantage.

This time Peng Er came from Liangzhou City, among the few people he brought with him, two of them were from weaving households, who knew how to use flower machine healds and weave various patterns.

This kind of complicated weaving method is mostly used in brocade, and linen is cheap, so this method is often not used. Luo Erniang and the others plan to use these weaving methods in the production of white folded cloth this time.

The matter of borrowing people is easy to talk about, but Luo Yong only heard Peng Er and the others yesterday that several weaving workshops will be opened in Liangzhou City this year. and craftsmen.

Since the price of white folded cloth is high, they must be willing to work hard in the process of weaving, applying the complicated brocade weaving method to the weaving process of white folded cloth.Compared with the hundreds of years of accumulation of those big families, Erniang and the others are obviously too amateurs, and it is difficult to compete.

"I heard that there is a kind of pile brocade?" Luo Yong asked.

"Indeed." Er Niang also had some understanding of these things: "I heard that there are people in Gaochang who weave blankets with this method."

"The white folded flowers are delicate and soft, why don't you use this method to spin some face scarves with beautiful patterns." Luo Yong suggested.

"Mask?" Er Niang didn't respond.

"It's just for washing your face." Luo Yong said.

"..." Erniang and Peng Er looked at each other, speechless for a moment.

In their conception, the cloth towels for washing face and bathing should be old cloth, and it is a bit extravagant for wealthier families to choose the big piece of cloth for use.

The price of white folded flowers is quite expensive, so it is natural to weave them into large pieces of cloth and sew them into beautiful clothes to wear on the body. General cloth head...

For Luo Yong's proposal to use cotton to make towels, these two native working people in the seventh century could not accept it.